CHAPTER XIII
WORD FROM THE PAST
None of the three had ever seen any one unconscious before. Sally stoodback, aghast and helpless. Genevieve expressed herself as she usuallydid in emergencies, with a loud and resounding howl. But Doris rushedinto the house, fetched a dipper of cold water and dashed it into MissCamilla's face. Then she began to rub her hands and ordered Sally to fanher as hard as she could. The simple expedients worked in a short time,and Miss Camilla came to herself.
"I--I never did such a foolish thing before!" she gasped, when sherealized what had happened. "But this is all so--so amazing andstartling! It almost seemed like my brother's own voice, speaking to mefrom the past." Again she sat back in her chair and closed her eyes, butthis time only to regain her poise. And then Doris did a very tactfulthing.
"Miss Camilla," she began, "we've discovered how to read the notebook,and I'm sure you won't have any trouble with it. I think we had betterbe getting home now, for it is nearly five o'clock. So we'll saygood-bye for today, and hope you won't feel faint any more."
Miss Camilla gave her a grateful glance. Greatly as she wished to bealone with this message left her by a brother whose fate she did notdare to guess, yet she was too courteous to dismiss these two girls whohad done so much toward helping her solve the problem. And she was moreappreciative of Doris's thoughtful suggestion of departure than shecould have put into words.
"Thank you, dear," she replied, "and come again tomorrow, all of you.Perhaps I shall have--something to tell you then!"
And with many a backward glance and much waving of hands, they tooktheir departure across the fields.
* * * * *
It was with the wildest impatience that they waited for the followingafternoon to obey Miss Camilla's behest and "come again." But promptlyat two o'clock they were trailing through the pine woods and the meadowthat separated it from the Roundtree farmhouse.
"Do you know," whispered Sally, "crazy as I am to hear all about it, Ialmost dread it, too. I'm so afraid it may have been bad news for her."
"I feel just the same," confided Doris, "and yet I'm bursting withimpatience, too. Well, let's go on and hear the worst. If it's very bad,she probably won't want to say much about it."
But their first sight of Miss Camilla convinced them that the news wasnot, at least, "very bad." She sat on the porch as usual, knittingserenely, but there was a new light in her face, a sweet, satisfiedtranquillity that had never been there before.
"I'm glad you've come!" she greeted them. "I have much to tell you."
"Was it--was it all right?" faltered Doris.
"It was more than 'all right,'" she replied. "It was wonderful. But I amgoing to read the whole thing to you. I spent nearly all last nightdeciphering the letter,--for a letter it was,--and I think it is onlyright you should hear it, after what you have done for me." She wentinside the house and brought out several large sheets of paper on whichshe had transcribed the meaning of the mysterious message.
"Listen," she said. "It is as wonderful as a fairy-tale. And how I havemisjudged him!"
"'My beloved sister,'" she read, "'in the event of any disasterbefalling us, I want you to know the danger and the difficulties of whatwe have undertaken. It is only right that you should, and I know of noother way to communicate it to you, than by the roundabout means of thismilitary cipher which I am using. You are away in Europe now, and safe,and Father intentionally keeps you there because of the very dangerousenterprise in which we are involved. Lest any untoward thing shouldbefall before your return, we leave this as an explanation.
"'Contrary to any appearances, or anything you may hear said in thefuture, I am a loyal and devoted soldier of the Union. But I am servingit in the most dangerous capacity imaginable,--as a scout or spy in theConfederate Army, wearing its uniform, serving in its ranks, but inreality spying on every move and action and communicating all itssecrets that I am capable of obtaining to the Government and our owncommanders. I stand in hourly danger of being discovered--and for thatthere is but one end. You know what it is. Of course, I am not servingunder my own name, so that if you never hear word of my fate, you mayknow it is the only one possible for those who are serving as I serve.
"'Father is also carrying on the work, but in a slightly differentcapacity. There are a set of Confederate workers up here secretlyengaged in raising funds and planning new campaigns for the South.Father has identified himself with them, and they hold many meetings atour house to discuss plans and information. Apparently he is hand inglove with them, but in reality is all the while disclosing their plansto the Government. They could doubtless kill him without scruple, ifthey suspected it, and get away to the safety of their own linesunscathed, before anything was discovered. So you see, he also standshourly on the brink of death.
"'For two years we have carried on this work unharmed, but I suppose itcannot go on forever. Some day my disguise will be penetrated, and allwill be over with me. Some day Father will meet with some violent endwhen he is alone and unprotected, and no one will be found to answer forthe deed. But it will all be for the glory of the Union we delight toserve. Now do you understand the situation?
"'I do not get home here often, and never except for the purpose ofconveying some message that will best be sent to headquarters throughthis channel. My field of service is with the armies south of thePotomac. But while I am here now, Father and I have consulted as to thebest way of communicating this news to you and have decided on thismeans. We cannot tell how soon our end may come. Father tells me thereare rumors about here that we are serving the Confederate side. Shouldyou return unexpectedly and find us gone, and perhaps hear those rumors,you would certainly be justified in putting the worst construction onour actions.
"'So we have decided to write and leave you this message. It will beleft carelessly among Father's papers, and without the cipher will, ofcourse, be unreadable by any one. But we have not yet decided in whatplace to conceal the cipher where there is no danger of its beingdiscovered. That is a military secret and, if it were disclosed, wouldbe fatal and far-reaching in its consequences.'"
Miss Camilla stopped there, and her spellbound listeners drew a longbreath.
"Isn't it wonderful!" breathed Doris. "And they were loyal and devotedto the Union all the time. How happy you must be, Miss Camilla."
"I am happy,--beyond words!" she replied. "But that is not quite all ofit. So far, it was evidently written at one sitting, calmly andcoherently. There is a little more, but it is hasty and confused, andsomewhat puzzling. It must have been added at another time, and Isuspect now, probably just at the time of my return. There is a blankhalf-page, and then it goes on:
"'In a great hurry. Most vital and urgent business has brought me backto see Father. Just learned you were here. There is grave, terribledanger. The rebels are invading. I am with them, of course. Not faraway. Must return tonight, at once, to lines, if I ever get there alive.Have a task before me that will undoubtedly see the end of me. In thisrig and in this place am open to danger from friend and foe alike. Butthere is no time to change. Hope for best. Forgive haste but there isnot a moment to lose. Father seems ill and unlike himself. He saw twoor three Confederate spies at the house today. Always suspect somethingis wrong after such a meeting. Don't be surprised at state of the house.Unavoidable but all right. Father will explain where I have hidden thiscipher code. Always your loving brother,
"'Roland.'
"And there is one more strange line," ended Miss Camilla. "It is this:
"'In case you should forget, or Father doesn't tell you, right hand sidefrom house, behind 27."
"That is all!" She folded up the paper and sat looking away over themeadow, as did the others, in the awed silence that followed naturallythe receipt of this message of one whose fate could be only too wellguessed.
"And he never came back?" half-whispered Doris, at last.
"No, he never came back," answered Miss Camilla softly. "I have
n't adoubt but that he met the fate he so surely predicted. I have beenthinking back and reading back over the events of that period, and I canpretty well reconstruct what must have happened. It was in the month ofJune of 1863, when Lee suddenly invaded Pennsylvania. From that timeuntil his defeat at Gettysburg, there was the greatest panic all throughthis region, and every one was certain that it spelt ruin for the entireNorth, especially Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I suppose my brother waswith his army and had made his way over home here to get or communicatenews. How he came or went, I cannot imagine, and never shall know. But Ican easily see how his fate would be certain were he seen by any of theFederal authorities in a Confederate uniform. Probably no explanationwould save him, with many of them. For that was the risk run by everyscout, to be the prey of friend and foe alike, unless he could get holdof the highest authority in time. He doubtless lies in an unknown grave,either in this state or in Pennsylvania."
"But--your father?" hesitated Sally. "Do you--do you think anythingqueer--happened to him?"
"That I shall never know either," answered Miss Camilla. "His symptomslooked to me like apoplexy, at the time. Now that I think it over, theymight possibly have been caused by some slow and subtle poison having agradually paralyzing effect. You see, my brother says he had seen someof the Confederate spies that day. Perhaps they had begun to suspecthim, and had taken this means to get him out of the way. I cannot tell.As I could not get a doctor at the time, the village doctor, who hadknown us all our lives, took my word for it next day that it wasapoplexy. But, whatever it may have been, I know that they both died inthe service of the country they loved, and that is enough for me. It hasremoved the burden of many years of grief and shame from my shoulders. Ican once more lift up my head among my fellow-countrymen!"
And Miss Camilla did actually radiate happiness with her wholeattractive personality.
"But I cannot make any meaning out of that queer last line," mused Sallyafter a time. "Will you read it to us again, Miss Camilla, please?"
And Miss Camilla repeated the odd message,--"'In case you should forget,or Father does not tell you, right hand side from house, behindtwenty-seven.'"
"Now what in the world can that all mean?" she demanded. "At first Ithought perhaps it might mean where they had hidden the code, but thatcouldn't be because we found that under the old mattress in the cave.Your brother probably went out that way that night and left it there onthe way."
"Wait a minute," suddenly interrupted Doris. "Do you remember justbefore the end he says, 'do not be surprised at the state of the house.Unavoidable but all right.' Now what could he mean by _that_? Do youknow what I think? I believe he was apologizing because things seemed soupset and--and many of the valuable things were missing, as Miss Camillasaid. If there was such excitement about, and fear of Lee's invasion,why isn't it possible that they _hid_ those valuable things somewhere,so they would be safe, whatever happened, and this was to tell her,without speaking too plainly, that it was all right? The brother thoughthis father would explain, but in case he didn't, or it was forgotten, hegave the clue where to find them."
Miss Camilla sat forward in renewed excitement, her eye-glasses brushedawry. "Why, of course! Of course! I've never thought of it. Not oncesince I read this letter. The other was so much more important. Butnaturally that is what they must have done,--hidden them to keep themsafe. They never, never would have disposed of them in any other way orfor any other reason. But where in the world can that place be? 'Righthand side from the house behind 27' means nothing at all--to me!"
"Well, it does to _me_!" suddenly exclaimed Sally, the natural-borntreasure-hunter of them all. "Where else _could_ they hide anything sosafely as in that cave or tunnel? Nobody would ever suspect in theworld. And I somehow don't think it meant the cave. I believe it meanssomewhere in the tunnel, on the right hand side as you enter from thecellar."
"But what about 27?" demanded Miss Camilla. "That doesn't seem to meananything, does it?"
"No, of course it doesn't mean anything to you, because you haven't beenthrough the tunnel, and wouldn't know. But every once in a while, alongthe sides, are planks from that old vessel, put there to keep the sidesmore firm, I guess. There must be seventy-five or a hundred on eachside. Now I believe it means that if we look behind the twenty-seventhone from the cellar entrance, on the right hand side, we'll findthe--the things hidden there."
Then Miss Camilla rose, the light of younger days shining adventurouslyin her eyes.
"If that's the case, we'll go and dig them out tomorrow!" she announcedgaily.
The Slipper Point Mystery Page 13
